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Pro Stock Bike racer David Simon from France is in 13th and final place following problems getting the bike to shift in session one and then the engine cutting out on the launch in session two. The top eight go through to eliminations tomorrow.	Pro Stock Bike racer Bertrand Maurice from France ran a 7.701/286.35 which compares to his PB of 7.27/289.63 recorded at the Main Event in May. Weather has cut the number of sessions for the bikes to two from the planned four and it has been difficult for the PSB riders to acclimatise to the track.
Pro Stock Bike racer Janne Koskinen from Finland ran a 7.631/232.11 in session two, which compares to his PB of 7.125/297.74 at the Main Event. Janne had a successful test session in 2018 under the guidance of Fredrik Fredlund as well as regular mechanics Pyry and Iiro Reinola.	Pro Stock Bike racer Kevin Feuz from Switzerland recorded a PB of 7.897/272.25. He rides a Suzuki GS, and his journey to PSB started when he competed in the Public Race Day here in 2014. He got to know Sandro Haldimann and mechanic Reto Sch�pbach and converted the bike to a PSB machine.
Pro Stock Bike racer Pavlos Sidiropoulos from Greece ran a 7.850/267.56 to go ninth; his PB is a 7.630/275.92 recorded here two years ago, and he rides a 1755cc Suzuki.	Pro Stock Bike racer Charalampos Bousinis from Greece ran a 7.828/280.08 to take eighth place and bump spot for tomorrow's eliminations. His PB on his Suzuki GSXR is 7.378/ 280.73.
Pro Stock Bike racer Charly Abraham from France is in third place after two qualifying sessions with 7.262/286.58 on his Buell XB12R; his PB is 7.219/287.28. Charly also competes in the French PSB championship to get more track time.	Super Twin racer Marc van den Boer (not pictured) is qualified fourth with a 7.473/244.93 which compares to his PB of 7.286/281.75 recorded at this year's Main Event at SPR. Marc said 'It's a small engine of 2000cc compared to the rest of the class and runs high gear only. I think it can run a six in its present setup but need more track time'.
Super Twin racer Gert-Jan Laseur is in third position in the championship, behind leader Marcus Christiansen and second placed Samu Kemppainen (who is not attending the NitrOlympX). He is qualified third of six bikes to have made a run, Christian Jäger being out with mechanical damage following an explosion on his launch.	Super Twin racer Marcus Christiansen is leading in his championship defence year however he suffered problems in qualifying here with a half pass 8.079/181.35 in the first session and then a problem leading to the bike being shut off in the second session with a failure in the drive.
Super Twin racer Neil Midgley ran a 6.844/301.91 in session one, then the bike failed to start in session two. He said 'We have a new drive belt on for this event to try to get low ETs which the bike definitely has potential for, and we have cured an issue we had with the supercharger. I haven't raced here before and the left lane was fine in session one, but in session two there was an issue with the Sure Shot start procedure which meant we needed to purge the engine of nitro which we had no time to do'.	Top Fuel Bike racer Mark Smith on the Draper Tools/Warpspeed Racing Pro Mod Bike, ran a new PB in session one and said the bike is struggling to keep all four cylinders lit. His time in session one was 7.577/209kph but in session two the gremlins struck and he wasn't allowed a second attempt at starting.
Top Fuel Bike racer Stu Crane ran into problems when the bike made a hard right in session one and took out the eighth and 1000 foot reflectors for his time to be DQ'd and then in session two the bike again went right, this time towards the guardrail, and he shut it off to a 15s run - and ninth place for an eight bike elimination ladder.	Top Fuel Bike racer Rene van den Berg's team had work on between the Main Event and this race in order to build new rods and pistons to replace those damaged at SPR. Rene said 'We are in test mode but the bike feels fine', whereas crewman Kev Charman remarked 'Rene is staying on the throttle for longer than we agreed'. Anyhow Rene ended qualifying in eighth with 8.544/209kph and is in the ladder.
Pro Mod racer Ingo Ekert ran a 6.597/327.54 and 6.620/330.48 to go 14th after two sessions. His Dodge Challenger was built in 2003 by Mats Ericsson and has previously been in Supercharged Outlaws here, but now the tune-up is more aggressive and he is in the mix. Crew member Kirsten Krause said that Ingo invested in a new torque converter transmission and rear shocks and the car is running straight, with the 6.5s run being after an early lift at 300m.	Pro Mod racer Jean Dulamon has had a transformation in performance this year following installation of new fuel injection system to the nitrous-assisted engine. At the end of the second session he lay in seventh place with a 6.060/383.65 run in session two following a 6.202 in session one. Before session two the team remarked that Jean didn't deploy the chutes as quickly as would have been ideal, but stopped without any drama.
Pro Mod racer Michel Tooren launched with the wheels well up in session one and recorded a 6.062/386.10. In session two the car rolled the beams a little to a 6.455/334.66, however the team seem happier with the setup now.	Pro Mod racer Jan Ericsson is leading the FIA championship points in a tight three way battle with Andreas Arthursson (16 points behind) and Micke Gullqvist (12 points further back). Any of the top six could potentially win the title. Jan ran 6.016/389.21 in session one and 5.930/390.05 in session two to go second at the end of the day. The Tami Brander-built Camaro suffered some shake in session one but this had disappeared in session two as the team got to grips with the track, this being the first time they had run here.
Top Methanol dragster racer Jonny Lagg ran a superb 5.277/430.73 in session one, and the team mentioned that a cylinder had gone out after 4 1/2 seconds, accounting for the relatively slow speed of 267mph. Crew chief Krister Johansson said 'We had a feeling we were on to something when we ran well at SPR and Tierp, and this was great.' The run put Jonny number one qualifier.	Pro Stock racer Jimmy Ålund ran quickest in session one, a 6.596/337.41 also having the fastest speed, showing more power than the competition. In session two his 6.629/336.21 was second to Bengt Ljungdahl, however Jimmy's run was still the faster speed. In championship terms Jimmy is on course for the title, although only three of six rounds are complete at this stage.
Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren ran a 6.683/335.84 in session one and 6.780/320.77 in session two, the second run having some tyre spin accounting for the slower time and speed. Michael is 54 points behind Jimmy in the championship and a strong showing in eliminations could see this gap diminish.	Top Fuel dragster racer Anita Mäkelä suffered an unusual problem when the clutch grinder fell off the tail of the trailer and broke. Straight away the team went on their phones. 'Ben Patterson called Bobby Lagana who spoke to Jonny Lindberg in the US. Jonny said 'There is a clutch grinder for sale in Stockholm if you can get it transported'. So our friends Jimmy and Roger delivered the clutch grinder, and thanks to them and to Jonny for locating it'. Once this vital piece of equipment had arrived the team set the car up for its runs. And what runs they turned out, a 3.894/507 followed by a 3.879/504, the first run only 1/2mph away from the FIA speed record. Anita commented: 'When Ian and Darren from Santa Pod are in charge of the track prep, you know you are going to get the best'.
Pro ET racer Til Schöninger has a Honda Prelude with a naturally aspirated 434ci SBC engine running on C12 gasoline. His qualifying time was 10.21 on a 10.05 dial, so he is in 14th place with one planned session still to go and a 32 car field in the class planned.	Competition Eliminator racer Klaus Romahn celebrated running his first 300kph run in his Camaro. He said 'I'm 65 now and have been out of the driving seat for 12 years whilst I crewed for Jens Zimmerman. We have now swapped positions, and I have this new car built by Webster Race Engineering for Bill McDermid. It is a 6.0s tagged chassis, more Pro Stock than Pro Mod in that it has fewer tubes, and the workmanship is great. I bought the car as a roller installed new wheels and a Pro Mod rear and new spline shafts. The engine is a 20 year old Pro Stock one from Denmark to which we have added a little shot of nitrous, our best engine was damaged at Mantorp Park with a broken exhaust valve. So far we have gone two tenths under the index, but the old engine doesn't like too much nitrous so we are looking for a 7.1 or 7.2 best compared with our best time recorded of 7.54. Thanks to Jens for a loan of his parts and to our families who have been very supportive'.
The Green Monster slingshot was built by Tim Arfons, the Dustman Brothers and Keith Burgan as a replica of the Green Monster 19 that Tim had originally ran in the 1970s before going into tractor pulling. The engine is a GM T-58 turbo pushing out around 1300hp. The car has been acquired by David Pertué racing and is planned to run at the night show.	Pro Mod racer Jere Rantaniemi had problems with starting the PPF Racing Camaro and then experienced handling problems ("If I lifted in the second half the car would make a move"). The result was in session one he was bulbed and recorded no time and in the second he lost momentum to a 7.17. The car has a very similar mechanical setup to Andreas Arthursson's, and has run a five in Sweden. Jere commented 'Our trip here and to Tierp next weekend has resulted in us needing to be on the road for 15 days before we return home'.
Pro Mod racer Marcus Perman who suffered damage at SPR at the Doorslammers, has persevered on the tour. He said 'The car is working well but we are suffering tyre shake. We haven't raced at these tracks at all and need more track time to tune the car and get rid of the shake'.	Top Methanol Dragster racer Dennis Habermann is racing here and at the Euro Finals. He said 'We are here to race for the fans and to be with friends, it's difference not fighting for the top spot in the championship but we will try to get third. We have the same engines now so don't need to allow for differences. We also have new Goodyear tyres and wheels, which we hope will fix the tyre shake. And Wolfgang Schöfer has joined the team and we welcome him aboard'. Dennis's engine suffered minor damage resulting from some small parts having broken, the time still a creditable 5.383/435.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Timo Habermann had engine problems necessitating a block change, so neither car was ready for the second session later in the afternoon. Timo said 'I now have new MBR heads and so the cars are identical. But I will need a word with the engine builder. The power is still there as I lifted at 300m'.	Top Fuel Bike racer Filippos Papafilippou ran a 6.29/297 in session one and 6.152/378 in session two. He said 'We're happy with the performance so far and are gradually getting there'.
Competition Eliminator racer Rene Meierhofer from Switzerland ran 8.937/206.50, his best ever in H/A trim, and 0.743 below his 9.68 index.The Jerry Bickel-built Beretta has a 4.4 litre engine and Coan gearbox and crew chief is Thomas Engelage.	Competition Eliminator racer Stefan Winter from Switzerland is qualified third with a 8.063/258.61 run with more to come (his PB is 7.884/269.25 from 2016). The car's body is a fibreglass copy and the engine a SBC of 427ci producing around 1050hp with Chrysler Torqueflite 727 gearbox.
Competition Eliminator racer Rene Ehrismann from Switzerland ran a best of 7.544 on a BN/A 7.68 index, his PB being 7.224/295.48 recorded at the SPRC Summernationals, with only two out of the three available nitrous stages. The Webster Race Engineering built '55 Chevy has a 532cu in Brodix-built engine running on C23 120 Octane race fuel with Powerglide gearbox.	Competition Eliminator racer Rolf Ammann from Switzerland has raced in Pro Mod and Supercharged Outlaws in the past but is now in AA/A where he qualified fourth with a 6.983/281.17 best on a 7.16 index. Rolf has owned his Blown Nugget '37 Chevy Coupe since 1993 and it looks as immaculate today.
Competition Eliminator racer Florian Uebel brought out his BA/A Mustang in 2017 and ran a best of 7.156/277 at the Main Event this year (his index is 7.60). After missing session one he wasn't able to get the car into reverse after the burnout in session two so didn't record a time.	Competition Eliminator racer Dirk Peiler ran a 7.583/284 on a 7.16 index which compares to a 7.340 at the Main Event at SPR. The Alston-chassised car, known as the Basdart, has a KB 470ci supercharged engine. Dirk and his Mopar Rebellion team attended the Mantorp Park in late July where he ran in Super Pro ET over the eighth mile.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Silvio Streich ran a 5.452/413.98 on his first pass, a new PB for him. Unfortunately there was damage. He said 'The engine had a damaged main bearing which we changed and we also changed the combination'. In the second session the car ran a consistent 5.457/411.71 and ended the day in fifth place in the quick field.	Top Methanol Funny Car racer Jürgen Nagel is at his first race this year. He said 'We are working on a new car with a modern Camaro carbon fibre body so we are only running at this race'. In session one the car went into the 1000 foot reflectors and the time was DQ'd whereas in session two, the car lost drive down the track to record a 10.231, placing him sixth.
Pro Mod racer Dmitry Samorukov from Russia ran a 6.29/345kph in session one but suffered tyre shake in session two. Crew member Adam Flamholc said that with dates in Russian and FIA championships, Dmitry will be racing in six weeks in a row, and then Adam heads back to the US for an NHRA event in St Louis.	Pro Mod racer Marck Harteveld from the Netherlands launched with the front wheels up in session one and then suffered tyre spin on landing, but in session two had a fine run to 6.007/386kph.